Drowning
by LovelyChemistry
Summary: "You've changed, Dean." Roman could not help himself. "Excuse me? "Dean was baffled. "You've changed." Roman repeated. "You are no longer the Dean I used to know." Set when Roman Reigns returned on RAW. One shot.


The first thing Roman noticed on the first Raw night he had returned, that everything had changed drastically. No, not quite, he corrected himself. He felt everything was changing because, first, the sadistic rulings of the Authority had ended when their team had lost on Survivor Series last November thanks to the interruption by Sting, but something else also were missing.

Dean was still nowhere he could find.

Roman wondered where Dean could be in the arena. He had followed the company's progress while spending months of recovery at home, knowing Dean was no longer in the main picture since his devastating loss to Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell. The odd thing was, Dean apparently had decided to set his next sight on Bray Wyatt and just .. letting Seth Rollins and the Authority won the battle easily. Roman had almost expected Dean would join Cena's team at Survivor Series, but then Dean had chose to focus his revenge on Bray. It seems like he refused to get involved anymore with the Authority although technically, his battle against them was far more than over.

_Their _battle against The Authority was not over, Roman had thought.

Roman did not remember exactly when Dean had began to drift apart from him , but he remembered the night Dean was smashed with Curb Stomp against the cinder blocks that Seth and Kane had planted outside the ring, he remembered Dean had staggered into his hotel room around 5 am, drunken and completely messed up. He had apologized to Dean as he had failed to rescue Dean back then because he was ambushed earlier by a bunch of locker room superstars that were obviously hired by Triple H to prevent him from helping Dean in the ring.

The night still felt like just yesterday as Roman let Dean slept in the couch, and in the morning Dean woke up sober, and they had a small talk over breakfast and coffee in a rainy weather outside. Dean told Roman he needed some space , needed to be alone in some time, and he was going to be absent from the show in a couple of weeks. Knowing Dean still reeling from the tragic betrayal of Rollins in the aftermath of Payback, Roman acknowledged him, wishing him the best of luck. It was the last time Roman had seen Dean face to face.

Fast forward a month later, Roman had abruptly suffered from hernia just a couple of days from his supposed match against Seth on Night of Champions, and he had to undergo emergency surgery which resulted him in forced to be dismissed from the ring for a few months before he was permitted to compete actively. He did knew though, that Dean had returned on the night of PPV to ambush Seth Rollins before he was ejected from the arena by Triple H.

It's not like Roman did not care about Dean anymore, but he found Dean began to reply to his text less and less words, as if he did not want to be disturbed. Let alone answering Roman's calls, that often goes straight into the voicemail. Roman kept following WWE shows on TV every Monday night and on Friday to watch Dean, and his heart sank when he saw Dean struggled to fight The Authority with only John Cena as his ally, but they could not even get along. He could not wait to get back in the ring, he was even mad at himself for the hernia he had suffered from, because he could not be there for Dean every time he got beaten black and blue by the douche Seth and his goons.

So when Hell in the Cell was over and the news that Seth once again had defeated Dean with the help of almost four people, including Kane and Bray, Roman was surprised that Dean had turned his goal on avenging on Bray. To Roman, the decision was unacceptable to him, because, Dean should had knew that whatever reason Bray was in the cell that night, he was sent by Triple H and his wife, a fact that Roman was positive was completely true. After all, Bray and his two freak followers had always fought for the Authority's battle previously, just like he and Dean always suspected, so Roman wondered why on earth Dean want to waste his time on the hillbilly cult freak, while he let The Authority claimed victory over him.

Not that Roman had a room to complaint, of course, because Dean had stopped replying his text or picking any calls from him.

It is another thing Dean needs to rectify to him, and Roman needs explanation if they were still on the same page. Explanation because they need to be in the same page, because Roman thought his mission to avenge Seth still was not accomplished. The Authority might be gone for good, but their remnants were still there, in fact were getting bigger with the addition of Luke Harper and Big Show, and Seth had vowed to bring the Authority back, and that was an omen for Roman to ignore. Knowing how Triple H was no stranger in playing dirty in the ring game, or how he had always accustomed with his backup plan, and Roman sensed the Plan B was lurking somewhere in the corner. For instance, Kane obviously refused to step down even though he was out of power without his DOO title, and he occasionally working with Big Show and Harper to annihilate John Cena or anyone who associated himself with the world champion. It means, the Authority were still there, just waiting for a perfect time to resurface.

Dean did not seem to care , though. He was just too pre-occupied with his business against Wyatt, and Roman wondered if Dean ever stop to remember him for a while. He could not find Dean anywhere during the Slammy award show, where Roman had won the Superstar of the Year and he decided to try the week after TLC, when Roman himself was scheduled to make official return.

On the Monday night Raw , though, Roman had not seen Dean anywhere, but he knew Dean had a match against Bray Wyatt that night, so he waited patiently in the deserted area backstage, watching on the screen to wait for Dean's match. His patience was rewarded later as the match finally started, and Roman hurriedly went to sit behind the curtain of the backstage, anticipating Dean would have to pass the section after his match later.

Soon enough the match eventually ended after an agonizing period of just twenty minutes, but too painful for Roman to wait for Dean to show up , and finally, his heart sank when he saw Dean made his way behind the curtain.

Dean was clearly astonished to find Roman was there waiting for him, but he eyed Roman up and down out of curiosity as if he was a complete stranger, but he cracked up a smile anyway. He extended his palms to Roman, and Roman shook his hand before he gave him a brotherly hug.

"So..what's up? " Dean asked later when they went into the locker room. "You are good now?"

"I'm cool. Thanks, " Roman answered, " You had not answer my calls. Or send me a text." He watched Dean grabbing his duffel bag from his locker. Dean cocked an eyebrow , and shrugged as he unzipped the bag to produce a clean tshirt out.

"You know me, Roman. I just need some space. " Dean replied coldly, yanking off the sweaty tank top he was wearing and slipped into the new tshirt.

"I know. But you could have let me know if you are dead or something." Roman said bitterly. Dean suddenly burst into laughter.

"What the hell, man? I'm on tv every week, if I was dead, you'd know without me having to text you, " He laughed, stuffing the dirty clothes in the bag before he zipped it back.

"You are leaving now?" Roman asked as he saw Dean pulling out his luggage, a backpack sitting on the top of it. "I was thinking if we could have a drink later, after my match, you know," He added.

"I need to catch early flight. Don't wanna be late, " Dean said." About the drink, maybe some time in future?" He offered, as if he felt guilty of leaving hurriedly.

"You've changed. " Roman could not help himself, crossing his arms. The backpack string in Dean's hands almost slipped off as he tilted his head, taken aback by Roman's accusation.

"Excuse me?" Dean was baffled.

"You've changed, Dean. " Roman repeated. " You are no longer Dean I used to know. The Dean that used to be my friend."

"Okay now, 'Dean slammed his bag down. "What's this all about? You sounded like a bitter ex, Roman, that creeps me out, alright?"

"I don't know why, but I had a feeling you did not even want to see me." Roman answered. "I know I sound like a nagging wife, but honestly, I thought when I come back, you and I were still partners in crime."

"I am still your friend, alright? " Dean said, "That never changed unless you decided to strike my back with a chair." He cackled to himself.

"I was just wondering.. Why you stopped going after the Authority after Hell in a Cell? Obviously you are still not winning..And you turned your goal towards Bray Wyatt. " Roman swallowed. " I thought, when we came back, we are going to finish what we started right before I was injured. Our battle against The authority is still not done."

Dean roared into laughter again. "Did you missed your train or something buddy? You know The Authority is officially over after Survivor Series, right? What to fight anymore? Seth's little cruiserweight division?"

"Yes, but they were still there." Roman insisted . "Did you not see it Dean? Their remaining members still stick together? Why do you think they stayed behind? It's because, sooner or later, Triple H will be back. Didn't you realize that, Dean?"

"Roman, "Dean still struggled to hold his laughter, "The bunch of suckups stick together because they were afraid! They were afraid because back when The Authority was here, they had pissed off half of the locker room. Now that Mummy and daddy were not here, the kids were afraid that the locker room would take their chance to revenge! See how Big Show regretted he turned his back on Cena? He's afraid Cena would lead the whole locker room to beat him down. It was the reason why they back each other up."

"Seth was vowing to bring them back, " Roman carried on, ignoring Dean's comments, " And Cena was the only one who held the key."

"Who cares about Cena? 'Dean scowled. "See Roman, that was your problem. You were busy to care too much about Cena. Is that why you made your grand come back to save him from Rollins? For what, Roman? For him to get a title shot against Lesnar?"

"'It wasn't about the title shot. I merely intended to stop Rollins from getting the victory. Because Big Show interfered in the match too, " Roman argued.

"That shows you care about Cena . You know Cena actually can win by himself, with or without interruption. Did you see Kane or The Authority able to stop him from getting the shot before ?" Dean countered.

"Maybe not before, but with Luke Harper and Big Show by their side, enough to crush Cena much worse than Lesnar's german suplex." Roman said. " Look Dean, I did not care about Cena. I care because he happen to be the only channel for the Authority to return, and we gotta stop Seth and his friends for the cause. I care about you too, and I want to make it up to you for the whole time you fought them tooth and nail without me."

"So you are saying only you were able to stop them. That I was weak and I quit after they sent a cult freak to cost my match against Seth Rollins. Is that what you saying?" Dean accused.

He lifted his backpack and slipped it on his back, grabbing his baseball cap to put it on his head.

Roman was slightly shocked. "No Dean. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it was not fair that while I sat at home, you got beaten down by them. "

"I think that make sense." Dean smirked as he pulled his luggage. "By the way, Roman. I still think you never got it completely. I'm not fighting the Authority. I'm merely fighting Seth Rollins. Only Seth Rollins. When we are The Shield, we fight the Authority. But when the bastard turn his back on us that night, we are no longer The Shield, and I no longer fight the Authority. It was Seth Rollins that was on my shit list , not them. And to make things clear for you, Rollins did not win the HIAC. It was like his daddy always saying, you don't win Hell in a Cell. You just barely survived. And that was exactly the thing had keep him alive today, Roman. Because he barely survived, and for that alone was enough for me."

"So are you.. you saying we are no longer friends? No longer brothers?" Roman almost choked out.

"Let's just put things this way.. I don't have anything against you. No hard feeling, bro. But it was better for us if we go on ..our separate ways." Dean said as he made his way towards the door. "It was the best for both us."

He waved a hand to Roman as a gesture of goodbye as he opened the door and walked out , shutting the door quietly behind him.

The first thing Roman _noticed _ on the first Raw night he returned, he had lost Dean on the night Dean got curb stomped by Seth and he would probably never coming back anymore. He did not know for sure, but right now he was feeling utterly alone . Seth had long gone before and now Dean had seemed to disappear too. Now it was just him, by himself and Roman felt he was drowning .

There was nothing and no one left for him anymore.


End file.
